AFTER a lifetime in the delivery business, Tom Bell, managing director of the Warwickshire TNT group, thought he had seen it all - but even he did not anticipate the latest crisis.

?The European Parliament has created some pretty absurd legislation in its time but with the working time directive, (WTD) it really has surpassed itself,? he said.

The EU laws will limit lorry drivers? working time to a maximum 48 hours per week and night shifts to eight hours.

They are aimed at making the drivers? lives easier but, according to Mr Bell, they represent a ?huge threat to the transport industry?.

Although they won?t come into effect until October, 2003, the implications of the new rules are already affecting investment decisions, such as the siting of new depots.

A major grievance is that the new laws will not apply to owner-drivers, who make up 78percent of the delivery driver workforce. Owner-drivers, particularly those operating from the Continent who already enjoy cheaper fuel, will have a significant competitive advantage over companies employing full-time staff.

Mr Bell said: ?Imagine the scene. Some bright spark sits down in Brussels and says, ?Let?s drive even more trucks on to the UK?s congested roads, let?s see if they can find thousands more drivers in an industry that is already understaffed and, while we are at it, why not fuel inflation right through the supply chain? And, just for good measure, let?s see if we can give non-British drivers another leg-up into the UK market?.?

He said that, at the moment, TNT?s 1,500 daytime and multi-drop drivers typically worked a 55-hour week and its 220 long-haul drivers averaged 10 hours a night.

A trunk driver travelling from the Durham depot to the main hub at Atherstone could complete the journey in less than four hours but, by the time his trailer has been tipped and then reloaded, he has already clocked up six hours, making it impossible to return to Durham in the remaining two hours.

The whole of TNT?s investment in UK distribution depots is centred around a 10-hour night shift. In fact, 20 out of 50 nationwide depots are more than three hours away from the nearest sorting hub at Tamworth, built at a cost of #22 million.

Mr Bell said: ?The WTD could mean building new regional hubs or switching drivers halfway through the journeys - both of which are extremely costly options which, ultimately, customers would have to pay for.?

Some transport operators will opt for more daytime trunking but that would reverse the beneficial effect on daytime road congestion which growth in night-time delivery has brought.

The outlook for TNT?s drivers is alarming.

Reducing their average 55-hour week to 48 hours would mean recruiting another 225 drivers - quite a challenge in an industry already short of 47,000 people.

It would also cost another #6.7million to buy extra vehicles and another #11.7million a year in wages and running costs.

Another option is to keep the same number of vehicles but switch employees on to continental shift patterns so that drivers can do an 11-hour day - but for only four days a week. Even that would create a demand for 15percent more drivers.

Mr Bell asked: ?Who will pay for all this inefficiency? Not Brussels, that?s for sure. Once again, it will be other motorists - they?ll be the first to suffer from the increased rush-hour congestion - and our customers, who will pass on our increased costs to their clients, thereby creating inflationary pressures throughout the whole economy.?

Mr Bell believes the legislation favours Continental Europe because the majority of drivers are self-employed and will be exempt until 2006 - giving them three years to steal a march on the rest of the industry by working longer hours.

?We must make a united stand or prepare to suffer catastrophic consequences,? Mr Bell said.